The Controversial Ban on River Flood Zone Construction: A Debate of Progress vs. Preservation

Nandkishore Ram Patankar, ex-president of Kulgaon-Badlapur Municipal Council, criticized the blanket ban on construction in flood zones, warning it could encourage illegal slums. He urges Maharashtra to adopt the Gujarat model, allowing controlled development with necessary safety measures to promote organized urbanization.

Nandkishore Ram Patankar, a former president of the Kulgaon-Badlapur Municipal Council, has criticized the rigorous ban on construction within river flood zones. He argues that these restrictions are exacerbating problems like unauthorized slums, calling the measures 'worse than the disease itself.'

Patankar, also serving on a High Court-appointed committee for the Sewage Treatment Plant scheme, recommends modern engineering solutions over outright bans. In correspondence with the Maharashtra Urban Development Department, he suggests that Maharashtra mirror Gujarat's balanced development approach by modifying the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations.

According to Patankar, leaving a 50-meter buffer from the riverbed allows for controlled construction with safeguards like protective walls and soaking pits. This approach, he argues, would alleviate citizen discontent with existing flood line regulations, helping achieve planned urbanization and preventing the spread of unauthorized slums.

(With inputs from agencies.)